The overall objectives of this project are to investigate the relationship between intravascular coagulation and the mortality and morbidity following major burns. The specific aims of the project will be to determine a means of documenting the degree of abnormal clotting or intravascular coagulation which occurs in burns of various extent, determine the relationship of intravascular coagulation to changes in vascular permeability and organ dysfunction (lung, liver, and kidney), determine the frequency with which intravascular coagulation develops secondary to infection or precedes the clinical manifestations of infection, determine whether intravascular coagulation may predispose to infection through depression of reticulo-endothelial function or the complement system, and finally, to assess treatment such as anticoagulation which has potential for modifying the clotting tendency in burns. The latter would absolutely establish the relationship between intravascular coagulation and burn morbidity and mortality and provide a major therapeutic modality.